


AvengerSpawn: The Phoenix

by Renegade_Angels



Series: Avenger Spawn [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Original Character, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Red Room, ignores everything in Age of Ultron, making up some more science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-04-17 09:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 17,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4661046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renegade_Angels/pseuds/Renegade_Angels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Battle of New York, SHIELD decides to gather a team of young agents who have alien experience to deal with any future intergalactic issues. That team, of course, is the Avenger Spawn, led by Noel Coulson and Paul Carter. Their first mission, to assist in rebuilding Asgard after the Dark Elves attack, goes tits up (wow, surprise).</p><p>When they come back to Earth, it isn't much better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thalia Lokison

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel, yay!
> 
> Also, this starts after Iron Man 3 and during/after Thor: The Dark World, but it will mostly be focused on CATWS because that movie was everything and I am trash.
> 
> Also, there will be some new characters! Yay.

Avengers Tower. Rightfully named so by my mother, Tony Stark, except that none of the Avengers had bothered to move in after the attack on New York. Or the incident with the Mandarin, AKA Killian the Dirtbag.

 

Killian the Dirtbag was dubbed so by my younger half-brother, Lucas Stark. My younger half-brother is twelve, obviously. One of the things that Midgard has taught me is that twelve-year-olds lack any sense of maturity and should not be trusted with anything.

 

But I digress.

 

The Avengers Tower is my home, at least for now, because I am living with Stark and his lady friend, Pepper Potts. And their son, Lucas, who I already mentioned before and would rather not mention again because he is a nuisance and is meant to be ignored.

 

I have no interest in befriending my new family, as they are the reason I lost my real family. Well, Stark is. Lucas was only ten when the attack on New York happened, so he didn’t do much to aide in the capture of my father, Loki. Stark had a lot to do with that. Him and his superhero friends, none of whom are friendly enough to move in, took my father away from me and sentenced us both to an infinite number of years in prison, without bail and without contact with each other.

 

My jail cell is self-enforced. I can leave my room whenever I see fit, but I choose not to unless I know that Pepper Potts is working at Stark Industries and neither Lucas nor Stark himself are anywhere near the commons area.

 

I am in my room right now, thinking back to the incident with the Mandarin. SHIELD was still holding me then, because they considered me a threat at that point (they’re right, of course. I am a threat to anyone who declares themselves worthy to cage my father away like he’s some kind of animal), but I was released after Stark decided to relocate himself and his family to New York. I, apparently, was included in that family.

 

I have yet to ask Stark why he would want someone like me living under the same roof as his lady and his child, but I assume that if we ever have a family dinner like Pepper Potts keeps suggesting we do, I will bring it up then.

 

Best to make the first family dinner awkward so that there won’t be any in the future.

 

There’s a knock on my door, and I consider ignoring it before I realise that the other three occupants of this house only bother me when something prudent is occurring outside of the walls of the tower. So I get up and stride over to the door, fully dressed in my black jeans, boots, and leather jacket, and fling the door open. “What?”

 

“Hi Thalia.” It’s Claire Barton, the younger sister of Hawkeye. “I’m here to talk to you about joining a SHIELD-sponsored test group.”

 

“I want nothing to do with SHIELD. Not after what they did to my father.” I move to slam the door in Claire’s face, but she blocks it with her hand.

 

“Trust me, you’re going to want in on this.” She says. She’s completely serious, so I let go of the door and nod my head, telling her to go on with her selling of this SHIELD thing. “It’ll be you, your brother, me, Agent Carter, and the other Spawn. And our first mission involves Asgard. Apparently there’s been some kind of _Lord of the Rings_ attack, and SHIELD wants us to go up there and do some recon.”

 

I raised an eyebrow. “And what, you need me to be your tour guide?”

 

“No.” Claire rolled her eyes. Good. That meant I had successfully pissed her off and she’d soon be dropping this ridiculous request and leaving me to my self-imposed misery. She puts a hand on her hip. “They need you because of your relation to Tony Stark and Loki. You’re kind of important to SHIELD’s big guys; they want you--and the other members of the team--there so that they can mold us into good little baby Avengers.”

 

I figuratively felt all of the snark fall from my face. “You mean SHIELD is using us and the other Spawn,” the name of the group of young men and women, and Lucas, who had a direct relation to any of the Avengers involved in the New York incident, “As puppets to run around making them look good?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much.” Claire said, and she didn’t look too happy about it either. “I’m asking nicely because I don’t want you to rampage too hard when the real agents drag you out to the Triskelion whether you want to go or not.”

 

“So I guess it’s settled then.” I said, then pursed my lips. I didn’t want anything to do with this group, but if SHIELD was going to force me into this whether I wanted to be involved or not, I supposed that it would be best to go in with as little resistance as possible. I leaned against the door frame with two questions on my mind. “But before we get too heavily involved in this, who else is on the team, and what pretentious jackass decided that putting us all together would be a brilliant idea?”

 

“The team consists of you, me, Lucas, Meredith, Noel, and a British agent named Paul Carter who I know nothing about.” Claire said. “And the person who decided this was a good idea is named Alexander Pierce. He’s higher than Nick Fury, so don’t even _think_ about crossing him.”


	2. Noel Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noel Coulson, SHIELD agent with some issues. Paul Carter, SHIELD agent with some smoothness.

Punch. Another. And another. I just kept going, even though the skin on my knuckles was long gone and there were droplets of blood on my hand wrappings. I didn’t care.

 

They told me I was too young to be a Level 7. They told me--Phil Coulson’s daughter, the best agent SHIELD has seen in a while--that if I wanted to get any farther in SHIELD, I would have to enroll in the Academy. I was not going to enroll in the Academy, not when I was better than 90% of the kids there. Not when it took three, four years to get through basic alone.

 

I was an anomaly. I wanted to stay that way. I wanted possible enemies of SHIELD to see me and rethink their plans, because if SHIELD could make someone as dangerous me in just two years, imagine what they could do in five. Imagine what would happen if an enemy of SHIELD killed a trained agent’s parent, or brother, or sister, or best friend. That enemy would have to deal with an angrier, deadlier version of me.

 

I wanted to scare off anyone who could hurt these people, because these people were my family now that Dad was gone.

 

So I punched harder, and added my legs into the beating that I was giving this bag. I could feel someone watching me at some point, but I wasn’t at all surprised. This was the SHIELD training room, after all. Even though it was three in the morning, that didn’t mean that I was the only one not asleep.

 

I only stopped when a smooth British accent said, “Agent Noel Coulson? Do you mind pausing for a bit?”

 

I didn’t mind. I could beat the crap out of that bag at any time. I threw a final, solid punch to the bag and then stopped, steadying it’s swinging before I turned to see who wanted to speak to me.

 

He was young, with perfectly styled brown hair and a lithe frame, and he stood in the doorway as though he were waiting to escort me off to some gala event. I started unwrapping the protective gauze from my hands. “Well? Make your case.”

 

“A few weeks ago, Agent Hill approached you with the concept for the Second Generation Avengers team and asked you if you were interested.” His voice betrayed only a slight interest in what I would be saying.

 

I narrowed my eyes. “I know. I asked why they’d want me, since neither of my parents were a part of the Avengers Initiative.”

 

“Yes, but you still played a large role in the battle of New York.” The man said, nodding slightly. “Hill says that the offer’s still there if you want it. We’ll be leaving for Asgard tomorrow at ten, so if you plan to join us, I suggest you pack your things tonight.”

 

“I’ll think about it.” I said, and the Brit nodded in acknowledgement before he backed out of the room, as silently as he had come in. I turned back to the punching bag, but my mind was elsewhere.

 

 _Who the hell does Paul Carter think he is, presuming to be a part of the Avenger Spawn?_ I thought as I packed up my gear and headed back up to my room. Whether I joined the team and went to Asgard or not, I still needed to get some sleep. Coffee was only so effective on the tired mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise that this is short but most Avenger Spawn things are.
> 
> Also I apologise that nothing else is getting updated; I'm in college right now and I'm sorting my life out at the moment.


	3. Meredith Banner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meredith joins the team, officially.

I knew it was a bad idea the moment I entered the laboratory at six in the morning, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to figure out this problem before I headed off to Asgard in four hours. I hated leaving an unfinished experiment, because leaving something unfinished meant that it could do things while the experimenter was away, and there would be no one there to take note of the unexpected things.

 

Luckily, I had a partner in the lab, at least for this experiment. Well, I was really his partner, since I was only in my first year at SHIELD’s Science Academy, and he was in his fourth, but I was still the one more interested in the experiment.

 

I would tell you what it is, but it’s very case sensitive and I don’t think I can disclose any details to anyone, so I just won’t say anything.

 

Just know that it’s very high-tech and sciencey, and should not be left alone for more than a day, lest something bad happens and the whole building blows up as a result.

 

My partner, Val Verde, was not in the lab when I first got there, so I was left to think in silence. That was nice, for about three minutes. Then the thoughts of Asgard and it’s copious alternative power sources entered my brain, and I had a hard time staying down on earth. And, well, when doing science, it’s generally a bad idea to get distracted by the possibilities that could be offered in another universe.

 

So, I sent out a text to Val Verde telling him to get his ass down to the lab, and then I left. I had a bifrost to catch, anyway.

 

<<<<>>>>

 

I had been to the Triskelion only once before, right after the attack on New York when my dad and the other Avengers were being debriefed. I had sat in the lobby, where they have that rock thing with all the fallen SHIELD agents’ names on it, and waited.

 

It still looked the same. I still felt unsettled in it. There were too many people with guns. I wasn’t a big fan of people with guns.

 

“Miss Banner!” A British voice called out from my left. I turned to see none other than Agent Paul Carter (yes, that Carter) striding towards me with a small smile on his face. I ran to him and embraced him in a bone crushing hug. “Paul! Hi!”

 

He tentatively hugged me back. “Meredith, hello to you too. Are you quite ready to go?”

 

“You’re coming with us to Asgard?” I pulled back and grasped Paul by his shoulders, my deep brown eyes searching his gorgeous silvery-blue ones to try and find the truth. Paul removed my hands from his shoulders and nodded. “Yes, Meredith. I’m coming with you to Asgard. Mr. Pierce decided that this team needed a qualified agent to lead the team, and he decided that I was the one for the job.”

 

I scrunched up my face in confusion. Sure, Paul was an agent of SHIELD, and a relatively good one considering that he was only twenty-one, but he was only twenty-one. He didn’t have a lot of experience. “Paul, no offense, but you’re kind of young to be leading a team… why’d Mr. Pierce choose you?”

 

“I don’t know.” Paul was lying. I could tell he was lying, but I knew better than to beg him for information. He extended his arm for me to take. “Shall we go gather with the others?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have posted this yesterday, I apologise.


	4. Claire Barton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire regrets not saving people under actual names in her phone.

I was texting Clint from the ceiling, my legs dangling off the edge of the supports, when a message came in from a contact that I had saved as “Hot Piece of Britishness” for some reason. Because I am a normal teenage-adult-something girl, I immediately ignored my brother’s texts to see why a hot British guy was texting me.

 

_message received: 9:34 AM_

_from: Hot Piece of Britishness_

_message: claire, your presence is required on the floor. please remove yourself from the rafters and be ready to leave for asgard in twenty minutes. -paul_

 

I looked down at the ground of the Triskelion, and saw a group of people, all of whom I recognised, staring up at me. The older of the two boys gave me a two-fingered salute. I gave him an awkward smile because I was the smoothest person on the planet.

 

And then I rappelled down, because I’m also kick-ass.

 

Meredith jumped me almost as soon as I landed, and I let out an undignified squawk. Again, _really_ smooth. I managed to free myself from the paralysing grip of one Meredith Banner and turned to face the rest of the group. “So, this is team Asgard? Where’s Noel?”

 

“She may not be joining us.” The older boy, the not-Lucas-Stark one, said, and holy mother of all things feathery, he’s fucking British. “She doesn’t believe herself to be the relative of an Avenger, even though her father’s efforts--in the battle of New York, of course--would say differently.”

 

“Damn right they would.” Noel said from behind the British dude, striding up to us with her blonde curls bouncing violently and her face set. _Hello, Agent Coulson the second. Glad to see you could join us today._ She stopped next to the British guy (whose name I still needed to find out because of _totally_ platonic reasons) and gave him a stare down. After a moment, she nodded in her way of approval, and said, “Agent Carter.”

 

“Agent Coulson.” He gave her a small smile in response, then turned back to me. “Claire, I apologise for not properly reintroducing myself, there was a slight interruption,” at this Noel rolled her eyes, “I’m Agent Paul Carter, of SHIELD. I’ll be leading this team until Agent Coulson finishes her training at the SHIELD Academy and is promoted to Level 7. It’s a pleasure to be working with you.”

 

“Same.” I blurted out.

 

“Guys, it’s ten.” Lucas nudged Paul’s arm, looking impatient and very Tony Stark-ish. I would just refer to Lucas as _Tiny_ Stark, but Tony himself is short enough on his own. I’m pretty sure that his twelve year old child is going to be taller than him when Lucas finally reaches puberty.

 

Lucas jabbed Paul again. “Dude, we need to go. _Now_. Asgardian people don’t really like to wait around for stuff to happen. Well, that’s what Thalia told me, but she lies all the freaking time, so she _could_ have been lying about that too, and I guess that’s just one of the side--”

 

“I think everyone’s ready to go, Carter.” Noel cut across Lucas’s rambling, thankfully. The kid could be cute, but sometimes he channelled his father a bit too much.

 

Paul nodded in response to both Noel and Lucas. “Alright, if you all would follow me outside, Heimdall will be putting the bifrost down there.”

 

The five of us followed Paul Carter out of the Triskelion, to the bright sunlit area of the world that I can’t describe because no one outside of SHIELD is allowed to know where the Triskelion really is (or _what_ it really is, for that matter) and describing the environment right outside of it might give away it’s location.

 

Honestly, the only reason Heimdall was able to put down the bifrost here was because Heimdall could see everything, according to Thalia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to share this week, other than I'm working on some other fics and trying to figure out whether I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this year or not.


	5. Thalia Lokison

Asgard looked so different from what I remembered, but I guess that was to be expected, seeing as when I left it four years ago, it was at the full height of it’s glory (minus the rainbow path being shattered) but now it was war torn and in ruins. Sure, some of it had been put back together, but it was pretty obvious that Asgard was still a work in progress.

 

Thor was there to greet us, which surprised absolutely no one. I knew he’d been travelling back and forth between the two realms so that he could be with his lady Jane while still helping his father and his friends to rebuild everything, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about him acting as our tour guide.

 

Especially since Claire had said that I was here to act as the Asgardian guide.

 

“Daughters and sisters of my friends!” He roared, because Thor’s voice only had one volume and that volume was loud as shit. “It is good to see you all and know that you are all alive and well!”

 

“The same to you, Thor!” Meredith said, grinning back at the blonde brute. I rolled my eyes, and was promptly jabbed in the side by Noel. I didn’t care; she was probably only being abusive because she still saw me as the only vengeance she could get for her father.

 

Thor took a better look at the group of us and noticed Paul and Lucas. “Ah, you bring along some boys as well! What do you call yourselves, men?”

 

Paul introduced himself and Lucas (much to Lucas’s chagrin; the brat would have much rather gone on a tangent of how interesting he was, being Tony Stark’s son and all) and then informed Thor that we needed to get our asses into Asgard. Not his exact words, but definitely the same meaning.

 

And so Thor led us through the semi-rebuilt ruins of Asgard and into the palace. It wasn’t anything exciting, because I had already seen it all. I was just wondering when I could sneak off to the prisons and release Loki. That was my plan, after all. Sure, I could act as a tour guide, but did SHIELD really think that they could put me in the same area as my father and not see Loki released from prison? It had happened before; two years of Tony Stark hadn’t changed my alliance.

 

We were brought straight to Odin, with no signs of where the prisons were located. As we entered the throne room, Thor and Paul led the way, with Paul a half-step behind the blonde warrior.

 

Odin rose from his throne and Thor got to one knee. Paul did the same, and subtly motioned for us all to do the same. So we did. Well, everyone else did. I saw no reason to bow to someone who had none of my respect.

 

“Thor. I see you have brought me visitors.” Odin’s voice boomed across the  room. Claire tugged at the hem of my shirt. “Thalia, bow your ass down.”

 

“No.” I said.

 

“Yes, Father.” Thor said, apparently oblivious to Claire’s and my discussion. “I bring with me the relatives of my friends, the Avengers. These six are here to discuss Asgard’s future and it’s relations with SHIELD.”

 

“Thank you, son. You are dismissed.” Odin said with a wave of his hand. Thor stood to his full height, bowed once more to his father, and left. Once the door shut behind him, Paul slowly righted himself and took a few steps towards the All-Father. “Mr. Odin, my name is Paul Carter, of SHIELD, and I would like a private conversation with you.”

 

“I will grant you that, Paul Carter of SHIELD, when you grant me a private audience with the daughter of Loki.” Odin’s one eye rested on me, and instead of withering like he wished me to do, I raised my chin higher and pointedly ignored Claire’s “I told you so” from below me.

 

Paul looked over his shoulder at me. “Are you alright with that, Agent Lokison?”

 

“I see no reason not to be.” I said. Paul nodded. “Alright. Then the the rest of the team and I will wait outside of the throne room. Come get us when you’re finished.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still on a semi-hiatus. Still suffering from a lot of issues.


	6. Noel Coulson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hella stressed and college is going to kill me somehow.

To say that I was a bit paranoid about leaving Thalia in the same room as Odin would be an understatement. Thalia loved Odin as much as I loved Loki: not at all. Given the chance, I was pretty sure that I would put a bullet through Loki’s heart. Thalia would probably do the same with the All-Father, if she used guns at all.

 

As soon as we cleared the room, I pulled Paul Carter aside. “What the hell were you thinking, letting those two be alone together?”

 

“I needed a private audience with Odin, and I respect Agent Lokison enough to trust that she won’t kill him before I can explain things to him.” Paul said, dropping the nice guy facade and turning into someone coldly diplomatic. I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this new Paul. Even though the nice British gentleman Paul was a pushover, he was still better than the one I was dealing with now.

 

I let go of his arm. “Why exactly do you need a private audience with Odin? I thought we were supposed to go into this as a team?”

 

“We are.” Paul nodded. He glanced over at Claire and Meredith, both of whom were trying to keep Lucas from pulling the place apart to see how it worked. He glanced back to me. “But I have some doubts about this team.”

 

“As do I.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “And you don’t see me asking for private audiences with a king of Asgard.”

 

“You’re right, but Noel…” Paul glanced over at the other three again, and a chill went down my spine. Something was not right here. Paul Carter did not look suspiciously at anyone. Paul Carter was too nice and naive and British to consider anyone a threat, even if they were categorised as one (Thalia, for example).

 

Paul looked back to me. “This isn’t right. SHIELD has never bothered to deal with intergalactical problems before, and I can’t think of any logical reason for sending us out as the first team to do so. You and I are the only ones with official field training, Miss Banner is only a first year, Agent Barton is more of a sidekick to her brother than an official agent in the eyes of SHIELD, and Lucas Stark is a child.”

 

“You didn’t mention Thalia Lokison.” I pointed out. Paul gave me a flat smile. “I didn’t think I would have to. The point is, we have limited experience, and even less experience as a team. The only things relevant about us is that we are all loose strings from the battle of New York.”

 

I blinked. Was Paul serious about this? And was he saying what I thought he was saying? “You think that this is just a diversion? But from what?”

 

“I don’t know.” Paul said, looking disappointed in himself for saying so. “But I think there’s some sort of leak in SHIELD. I think SHIELD is breaking, and whoever's behind it wants us to be out of the way when it happens.”

 

“Then we need to be fast.” I said. SHIELD was my home, just as it had been my father’s home before he died. I wasn’t in the business of disappointing my father, and I didn’t plan to start doing so now.

 

And if that meant I had to commit treason against Secretary Alexander Pierce, the very man who had created this team, then I would. Because at the end of the day, my family at SHIELD came before my alliance to SHIELD.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who knows when the next update will be? Not me. I'm too tired to function. Goodbye friends.


	7. Thalia Lokison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia has an audience with the king.

“Thalia, daughter of Loki.” Odin said to me, looking down with one disapproving eye. I looked up at him with two of my own, refusing to succumb to any of his wills. He stood from his throne and began to descend down it. “Show your king some respect.”

 

“I will not show any respect to the man who banished my father and then imprisoned him.” I spat, drawing myself up taller in defiance. Odin meant nothing to me.

 

He gave me a twisted smile and I understood why Midgardians talked about their blood boiling when they felt intense amounts of anger. If blood was actually able to boil from just an emotion, mine would be doing so right then. How dare the All-Father call me in just to make jests at me.

 

“It is good to see that two years on Midgard has not affected your personality that much, Thalia.” Odin said, but he said it with my father’s voice. I stepped back, and hissed, “What sorcery is this, you scum?”

 

“Don’t refer to your father as scum.” Odin said, and then his form began to shimmer with gold, and the image of Odin faded away to reveal my father, no longer a prisoner but a king. A king in hiding, yes, but he had still found his way to his rightful place on the throne. Loki’s tilted smirk grew. “It’s not polite.”

 

“How?” I whispered.

 

“Oh, it wasn’t too much of a task. I just had to gain the trust of my brother and fake my own death.” Loki shrugged off the ordeal as a simple magic trick. To him, it must have been. To me, it was a miracle. My father had been restrained like an animal the last time I had seen him. This whole scene was surreal.

 

Loki’s face hardened. “Thalia, you must not tell anyone about this. All of Asgard must think that I am dead and that Odin is not. If the facade falls, so will I. And this time, I do not think Anthony Stark will be able to rush in and save you from a fate parallel to mine.”

 

“My lips are sealed.” I said, biting back a smirk of my own.

 

Loki nodded, and returned back to his appearance as Odin. “Good. Now send in the others, and if they ask what I told you, tell them that Odin told you that Loki is dead.”

 

“I will, father.” I said. I didn’t bow to him, but merely nodded my head and turned around. I took a deep breath and settled my face into something distraught, then began walking. I pushed the doors open using my magic, throwing anger into the mix of false emotions coursing through my body.

 

The Spawn looked at me warily as I crossed to them. Paul and Noel had seperated themselves from the other three. I noticed that they appeared as though interrupted. Whatever. Their petty drama was none of my concern.

 

After all, my father had just died. I was allowed to act selfishly right now.

 

I walked up to Paul and glared. “The Jackass in Charge is ready to see you, Agent Carter.”

 

Noel gave me a look, something unreadable but probably distrust. Wasn’t too unusual, coming from her. Paul, however, put his hand on my shoulder tentatively. I shoved it off as soon as he touched me, and stepped back. “I said go talk to Odin, not try and connect with me.”

 

“Thalia, what did he tell you?” Paul’s voice, normally so nice and caring, had a cold undertone to it. Whatever he and Noel had been talking about wasn’t something fun.

 

I glared at him. “My father’s dead, Agent Carter. So excuse me for wanting to get this diplomatic excursion over with as soon as possible.”

 

“Understandable, Agent Lokison. I’ll see to the All-Father now.” Paul inclined his head in a nod, but he never got to go in and talk to “Odin”. Because as soon as he started towards the doors to the throne room, there was a great crash from within, and the walls of the castle shook.

 

Someone was invading Asgard. Again. And this time, when they killed the king, they would be killing my father.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still on a hiatus. Sorry guys. I'm just struggling to find my muse for a lot of these stories, is all. I'll come back eventually.


	8. Meredith Banner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A how to guide on Asgardian survival, written by (future) Dr. Meredith Banner

Being the daughter of Bruce Banner meant that I had had my fair share of near-death experiences. But it’s a completely different feeling when you’re not even on your home planet and the planet you’re currently occupying was literally just invaded.

 

So, suffice to say, I panicked when the walls started crumbling. Not a lot, but just enough that I found myself irrationally wishing that I could at least turn into a giant rage monster like my father. At least then I’d feel like I was some kind of help to my friends and team mates.

 

Lucas had whatever gadgets he’d been working on while Thalia was talking to Odin. Claire had her arrows and a few knives. Noel and Paul had their guns and a few years of combat training under their belts. Thalia had her magic, and her Jotun powers. Me? I was just the scientist. I couldn’t fight; I could just cure diseases and diagnose alterations in a mutant’s system.

 

Noel handed me a gun. “No idea what we’re up against or if this will be useful, but at least you won’t be going in naked.”

 

“Thanks.” I said, but I wanted nothing to do with the gun. I hated guns. I hated weapons in general because they only brought destruction, but guns held an especially cold place in the bottom of my heart. I’d seen too many of them pointed at Dad to like them.

 

But this was my only option at the moment, so I’d have to deal with it.

 

“What do we do?” Claire asked Paul. He stood with his weapon at the ready in front of Lucas. He looked around the area before answering. “Barton, you take Coulson and head to the perimetre, see what’s going on outside and join up with anyone who’s trying to stop it. Banner, Stark, you two go with Lokison and see what you can draw up weapon wise. I’ll stay here and protect the king. Keep your comms on and keep everyone updated. Go!”

 

With a wave of his hand, the five of us dispersed. Only Paul remained, and he stood in front of the doors to the throne room with a finger on the trigger and a hard look on his face.

 

Thalia led us away from the throne room. She was radiating with anger, and her fingers were tinged with blue. That didn’t stop Lucas from going on about Asgardian technology and the things he could make with it. Thalia let him talk, and I tried to keep up.

 

I was a biologist, not an engineer. That didn’t mean I couldn’t decipher anything coming out of Lucas’s mouth. “You’re planning to make Asgardian Iron Man suits? How long is that going to take?”

 

“Depends.” Lucas threw over his shoulder, jogging to keep up with Thalia’s quick pace. “Add thirty minutes to however long it takes us to find the tech gear. That’ll give me enough time for two suits, which is probably all we’ll need. You and I are the only ones without any real gear, so we’re the priority here.”

 

“Grab onto my hand and shut up.” Thalia extended her hands to us, neither of which were blue anymore. We took them. Thalia glared at both of us. “Hold on unless you want to lose your leg.”

 

One second we were in the corridor, the next I felt my body being yanked away, and the next we were in a room full of metals and half-built armour. Lucas moved around, a toothy grin on his face and his fingers dancing across every surface.

 

I turned to Thalia. “You can teleport.”

 

She shrugged. “Apparently so.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the hiatus continues, but now for a more postitive reason: I'm editing my first original novel so that it can be published! Hopefully none of my fics will have to be removed!


	9. Claire Barton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Kind of. I've finished this story and I've cleared out all the stories that were giving me trouble. I've also started working on One Thousand Words again, and my original fiction is coming along.
> 
> I also completed NaNo! Hurrah!

Fighting in the air in New York City is easy. I know the tops of those building the same way I know my arrows. Fighting in the air in Asgard is something akin to terror. All the buildings have intensely steep roofs and they’re all spiked and sleek and just plain dangerous to land on top of. 

 

Word to the curious: don’t castle-jump while visiting Asgard. You will die. I almost did, and I am an Olympic gymnast trained to do crazy shit like this.

 

Definitely don’t castle-jump while trying to fight off a race of aliens that neither you nor your SHIELD-trained partner recognise. Because not only are aliens scary as shit, they’re hard to beat when you don’t know what you’re going up against.

 

I could write a book on things not to do while visiting Asgard, but I digress. Aliens. All of them at least seven feet tall, thin, with dark brown and blue skin and dark red hair. It would be patriotic save for the fact that these things had probably never heard of the United States, and they were also trying to kill everyone.

 

Okay, the killing everyone is pretty accurate for Americans, but not so much the knowing nothing of the country.

 

Actually, that’s pretty spot on as well.

 

Anyway, the actual battle. That was kind of the point of this. So, Noel and I are castle-jumping (again, not advised for anyone under the age of 2300) and shooting anything that comes at us. And these things are fast. And really fucking good at what they do. Like, I was pretty sure that they were the kind of alien that learned how to beat it’s opponent during the battle. 

 

Things were bad enough, what with me and Noel both struggling to not fall off and die, but then we saw something really weird. One of the aliens took this blue thread out of one of the Asgardian soldiers’ mouths, and ate it. And then the Asgardian soldier died. I was pretty sure he was dead, because he just slumped to the ground and didn’t get back up. 

 

“Okay, that changes things.” Noel said. “We kill every one of these things, no survivors.”

 

“Yay, mass homicide.” I said, and fired an arrow into the chest of one of the aliens. Technically this wasn’t mass homicide, since the aliens aren’t even human, but it worked in the moment.

 

Noel shot at the head of one of them. Blue goo spurted out, and I was about to congratulate her on the hit when the thing got back up, wiped it’s forehead, and kept coming, it’s hands now radiating with some sort of blue glowy thing. 

 

Noel pressed a finger to her ear. “Update: do not shoot these things in the head. Doesn’t do anything except piss them off even more.”

 

“I figured that out, thank you.” Paul’s voice came in across the comms. The guy actually sounded sincere in his thanks. I wasn’t sure how to take that, but knew better than to question him. We were in the middle of a war. No time to wonder what the hell your attractive British boss-guy was thinking.

 

“Just trying to keep in touch.” Noel said, then went back to aiming for the chest. She ran out of bullets sometime during our stay on the roof, but instead of pulling out her knives, she reached into her shirt and pulled out another handgun from her bra.

 

Okay, that’s cool. And ridiculously bad-ass. I want a holster-bra.

 

I ran out of arrows not long after Noel started attacking with her bra gun, but unlike Noel, I was not hiding a spare pack or arrows in one of my undergarments. I’m not that cool, apparently. 

 

Either way, I had two options. The first was to stay on the roof and let Noel do all the work. The second was to jump down off of my perch and either fight with one of my knives or start plucking arrows out of aliens. 

 

I chose the second, sliding down the roof at an increasingly fast speed, ignoring Noel’s shout as I hit the lip of the roof and sprung off, falling the rest of the twenty feet down into the middle of the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! 
> 
> -Jeff


	10. Noel Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle at Asgard continues.

“Claire!” I screamed as she leapt off the building and flew into the fray. Just because her brother was known as Hawkeye didn’t mean that either Barton sibling could fly. 

 

I also knew that I wasn’t letting her go down there alone. Claire was capable; she’d proven that in New York and in numerous training sessions since then, but these guys were tough. We’d kept to the roofs for fear of losing our lives, and because we wanted to figure out how these aliens worked before we jumped in head first.

 

Claire, apparently, was into the almost-dying lifestyle. I was not, but Claire was a friend, and I didn’t have many of those, so I wasn’t going to lose her.

 

I slid down after her, keeping my handgun at the ready and praying that I chose the right moment to leap off the roof and into nothingness. 

 

I hit the ground with a thud and rolled with the impact. Nothing was broken, but my legs hurt like hell. Jumping off of buildings can do that to you, I suppose. I started shooting again as soon as I could stand up, taking my shots carefully. I didn’t have another gun on me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to resort to knives. Getting too close to these things seemed a little too dangerous.

 

In the middle of dodging a well-aimed spear, Lucas’s voice came over our comms: “On your above, bitches!”

 

I didn’t even bother to look up. I just fired my final bullet, pressed a finger to my comms unit, and said, “Hey, Stark, make sure you don’t kill us.”

 

“We’re good.” Meredith responded, and then the alien right in front of me burst into flames. I somersaulted backwards to avoid the blast.  _ Thanks, guys.  _ I thought. Then,  _ where’s Thalia in all this? _

 

“Watch yourself!” I heard Claire shout, and an arrow whizzed past me. I turned around and saw one of three aliens fall to the ground. Thalia sliced through the torsos of the other two. She spun her scepter up in an arc and stabbed a third who was approaching her from behind. I pulled out two of my knives, the ones with the longest blades, and got to work.

 

The five of us fought along with what was left of Asgard’s royal army, including Sif and the Warriors Three. I could see why Thor trusted these four with his life; they were good at what they did. 

 

It took hours, but as the sun began to set over Asgard, I pulled my knife out of the final alien and spit out some of it’s blood. The battle was over. 

 

“That was intense.” Claire stood beside me, limping from where she had received a gash in her leg. “And pretty freaking unexpected.”

 

“You can say that again.” I nodded in agreement. I turned around, looking for the rest of the team. Thalia was jogging back to Claire and I, blue goo streaked across her face like some kind of malicious war paint. Lucas and Meredith were in the sky still, but I motioned for them to come down, and they did.

 

Meredith raised her facemask and turned to Thalia. “What were those things?”

 

Thalia smudged some of the goo on her face in an attempt to get it off. “I’ve never seen anything like them before, but I suppose that Thor or Sif might have some knowledge about the creatures’ origins.”

 

“They are from the realm of Farbien.” Sif said, overhearing our conversation. “The warriors there are strong, but greedy. They wish to take over the powers of Asgard, but they have never been so arrogant as to launch a full attack on our soil, nor so cowardly as to do it while we are still weak.”

 

“Well, that’s one more thing to add to the SHIELD inventory.” Claire said. She put a finger to her comms unit, obviously calling Paul to get an update from our leader. “Hey, Brit, it’s Hawkeye number three. You still alive back there?”

 

She kept her finger to her ear, but her expression grew worried. I raised an eyebrow, and called Paul as well. “Agent Carter? Paul? You okay?”

 

No answer. That wasn’t good. Paul always answered, because he was a polite guy who didn’t ignore anyone unless the situation absolutely demanded it. And if he wasn’t answering his comms, that meant one thing, and one thing only. 

 

Claire and I said it at the exact same time. “Throne room’s been breached.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to update this last week. I was kind of going through a shitty break up then, but I'm back now!


	11. Claire Barton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and Paul sort some things out. Because near death experiences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, actually on time for once. Congrats, Jeff. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy. Leave kudos. You know how this works.

“Throne room’s been breached.” I whispered, because my mind didn’t want to believe what should have been obvious. Paul wouldn’t just not answer a call. He wasn’t a douche-bag. He was in trouble, and if he was in trouble, then Odin was in trouble. And if Odin was in trouble… well.

 

So the five of us, plus Sif and the Warriors Three, rushed the castle. Noel and I took the lead, even though Thalia and the other Asgardians were faster. We were the head of the team at the moment; we got to lead everyone into battle. 

 

Paul lay in a bloody heap outside of the door. I ran up and skidded to a halt on my knees in front of him. “Paul!”

 

“Not dead.” He muttered, and sat himself up, slowly. I tried to stop him, to keep him still, but he shook his head. Stubborn asshole. Beautiful stubborn asshole, but still. His white-blue eyes flicked up to Noel. “They got in. Go save Odin.”

 

Noel nodded, and motioned for us to follow her. I didn’t want to leave Paul just lying here in a bloody mess, and I told Noel this. She pursed her lips. “Fine. Just… don’t get yourself killed either, Barton.”

 

And then they were gone, and it was just me and Paul in the hallway. The doors closed behind us with an ominous bang, and my mind settled back to childhood. To fixing the shit that couldn’t remain unfixed, and ignoring everything else.

 

Paul was wounded badly in three places, moderately in one, and slightly in five. Three of the five were on his face, around his jaw, and a part of me realised that one of the things had tried to take Paul’s soul. Or whatever it was I had seen them take from that Asgardian soldier.

 

I put that thought in the back of my mind and began dressing the major wounds with scraps from a curtain. I hoped that Odin didn’t mind my destroying his shit, but Paul Carter was doing to die if his bleeding didn’t stop soon. 

 

I shoved my bangs out of my face, leaving some of his blood on my forehead. “You know you don’t have to live up to your representative’s name, right?”

 

“And how would I be doing that, exactly?” Paul said with a crooked smile on his face. I couldn’t stare at him too long. Dork. I went back to the gash in his side. “By being unnecessarily reckless. You should have had one of us stay back here with you, Paul. Back-up isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of trust.”

 

“I know.” Paul nodded. There was something else on his mind, though. I decided not to prod him for it, and instead headed to the next injury. 

 

“You never did call me.” He said suddenly, and I kind of maybe jerked back in surprise. I blinked. “What?”

 

“Last Christmas, when we first met. We exchanged numbers and you promised to call me and stay in touch.” Paul said. I felt pretty guilty, because that was definitely true, but calling a cute boy hadn’t really been on my to-do list ever since New York. Clint and I had been rushed out of the country almost immediately after Thor and Loki had disappeared off to Asgard. SHIELD had thought it best that the two of us (Clint specifically) stay off the grid until New York got settled.

 

Clint hadn’t been there at Christmas. Fury had said that the situation was still too delicate. Two years after New York, Clint was still in hiding. I didn’t think the situation would ever stop being too delicate.

 

That didn’t give me much of an excuse for completely forgetting Paul, though. “Sorry. I just… life happened.”

 

“That’s understandable.” Paul nodded. “You and I live dangerous lives, Claire. But if you are willing to do so, I would love to re-extend my invitation for a call.”

 

I smiled. “Why do I need to call you when you’re right here?”

 

“I don’t know, Agent Barton.” Paul said. He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, softly. “But when I do figure us out, I’ll make sure to call you myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to get interesting soon. Trust me.
> 
> -J


	12. Meredith Banner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's got to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact, when the AvengerSpawn first came into existance I was still back on fanfiction.net with my four other original co-authors. We made a joint account just for this story, when really, we should have just all moved onto here. 
> 
> Anyway, the moral of the story is that ao3 is a good ass site, 10/10 would recommend for writing, either alone or with other people.

We rushed into the throne room, sans Claire and Paul, to see Odin laying at the foot of his throne with his mouth open and his eyes turned skyward. Beside me, Thalia gasped. Weird. Would have thought that Thalia would be excited that Odin was dying. But hey, maybe she’d gotten more pro-Asgardian than I had thought.

 

Sif strode past us all, to the All-Father. She knelt down beside him. “My king, please, speak to me.”

 

Odin gave no response. Sif hovered her hand over his mouth, obviously looking for signs of life. A look of relief washed over her face, and she looked up at us all. “He is alive, but barely. Immediate action needs to be taken to ensure his survival.”

 

“You mean me, don’t you?” Thalia looked grim at the thought of actively helping the man she hated so much. Sif nodded. Thalia was the only one who knew any magic, and we all could tell that getting a real doctor here would take too long. 

 

Thalia walked up to Sif and the fallen Odin. “Let me work alone. I’ve never used my magic to save another’s life, and I will need a lot of room to concentrate.”

 

“Thalia, I’ve got some medical experience.” I offered. “You sure you don’t want me to stay, and act as back-up?”

 

Thalia shook her head. “No. I need to do this alone.”

 

So the rest of us left the throne room, and returned to where Claire was finishing dressing Paul’s wounds. Deciding to use my medical skills somewhere, I knelt down beside Claire. My pseudo-armour was gone, packaged away in a self-made crate. It was just me and my own hands again, the way I preferred.

 

Claire sat back and wiped her hands on her thighs. “So, Dr. Banner, how’d I do?”

 

“Alright for the moment, but the second we have Odin stable, I suggest we heal Paul and go home.” I said. The attack had gotten my nerves on edge. Something felt really, really unsettled deep inside of me, and I didn’t like it.

 

Paul nodded weakly. He was in a sitting position now, with his back propped up against the wall and his arms limply by his side. It was a miracle he was still alive when we’d found him, to be honest. “I agree with Miss Banner. We need to return to the Triskelion as soon as possible.”

 

“I think now would be a good time to share your reason why, Carter.” Noel said from behind me and Claire. Lucas, out of his armour as well, was standing beside her with a curious expression on his face. Noel crossed her arms over her chest. “They need to know, Carter. You  _ are  _ the team leader, after all.”

 

“I suppose you’re right.” Paul said, though he didn’t look to happy about it. He ran his tongue over his lips. “Agent Barton, Mr. Stark, Miss Banner, there’s something that I need to tell you. Agent Coulson already knows, and she shares my suspicions about this as well.”

 

Paul paused. Noel tapped her foot on the ground. Paul opened his mouth to maybe let us all know what the hell was going on with him and Noel and their secrets. “We think that SHIE--”

 

“Help!” Thalia’s voice rang out, through the closed doors. All of us--sans Paul, who was still too weak to stand--jumped up and ran towards the throne room. Thalia screamed out again. “Help, I’m losing him! Dammit, you guys, the king’s going to die!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speaking of other people, I'm still pretty emo AF and I'm co-authoring a petekey thing with one of my internet friends, on here as frankiesin. So, yeah, that's happening. 
> 
> Leave a kudo if you liked it?


	13. Thalia Lokison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What really happened backstage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually remembered to update this, holy shit.

As soon as the doors closed behind Meredith, I ran over to my father and fell down beside him. “Loki, Loki, are you alright?”

 

“I will live.” He said. “Just… heal me, and I can return to this charade.”

 

“Why do you have to return?” I asked. An idea had suddenly come to my mind, as soon as the relief had washed over. “There’s no reason for Odin to survive this, is there? And if Odin is gone, then you can remove the charade and reappear--miraculously alive--through one of your portals that you talked so fondly of. You can come back, and reason with Thor to rule alongside him, at least until this fiasco has settled down.”

 

“Then I shall take my rightful throne back from my oaf of a  _ brother _ .” Loki said, spitting out the last word as I healed his wounds. My fingers were streaked with blue, but that was irrelevant. My father would not care if ice dragged across his wounds, for he was made of ice as well, and the cold was just an old friend. An annoying, unwanted old friend, but one all the same.

 

“Yes,” I nodded. “And then you shall have the kingdom you deserve. And I will get the royalty  _ I  _ deserve.”

 

Loki smirked. “You are such a pretentious brat.”

 

“So says the original brat.” I gave him a smirk back. Normally, I wouldn’t sass back so harshly to my own father, but my two years of living with Stark, coupled with the recent events, had loosened my tongue.

 

Luckily, Loki was not offended by my words. He just laid back down and let me finish healing him. He closed his eyes once I was done. “Back away for a moment. I do not want to accidentally draw you into my charade.”

 

“Yes, father.” I said. I stood up and backed away from him. He stood up, and then on the ground where his body had just been, an image of Odin appeared. I bent down to touch it, and it felt real. I looked back up at my father, my eyes wide. “You’ve never been able to do that before!”

 

“I’ve had lots of time to strengthen my magic, Thalia.” Loki smirked. “Now prepare yourself; your king has just died in your arms, after all.”

 

And with that, he disappeared into nothingness, gone to a place on the edge of the realm, to wait until a proper time to return. 

 

I knelt back down beside the pretend Odin, and shook him. He moved like he was real; I just hoped that Loki could keep up the charade long enough to convince everyone else. I drew a deep breath and willed panic to fill my face. Then I screamed.

 

“Help! I’m losing him! Help! Dammit, you guys, the king’s going to die!” I screeched, pain and anger flooding my voice. I just imagined that it was really Loki dying there, not just one of his allusions. 

 

I let out an animalistic wail, and hurled a ball of fire and ice at the throne.

 

“Thalia! Calm down!” Someone said. I didn’t know who. I turned, my long hair in disarray, and hurled another ball of ice and fire at the crowd. No one was hit, but I didn’t give a damn. I was pretending to act out of rage. My aim didn’t have to be flawless.

 

Lucas flew up to me first, his metal hands up in a sign of peace. I glared at him. “You’re too late. I couldn’t fucking save him.”

 

“Thalia, it’s okay.” Lucas said. He lifted his facemask. “No one here blames you. It’s just… sometimes you can’t save the day.”

 

I snorted. “Good luck convincing Asgard of that. All they’ll see is the vengeful daughter of Loki feigning the death of their king. They’ll throw me away into Loki’s cell, just to taunt me further.”

 

“No they won’t.” I was surprised that Noel, of all the Spawn, was the one to say that. She hated my family, after all. But there she stood, confidence and poise, ready to strike down anyone who dared disagree with her decision. “We’re going to give Pierce a call, and then we’re going home. To Earth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudo or something, I'd really appreciate it!
> 
> -J


	14. Noel Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit hits the fan and Paul goes a little rogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay a chapter.

The six of us sat outside the palace with Paul’s cellphone in the middle. He had Secretary Pierce on speakerphone, because he wanted us all to realise the possibility of a leak. Paul didn’t think that Pierce was the leak (no one with any amount of intelligence would think that, because SHIELD wasn’t stupid enough to let a traitor get to the top of their hierarchy), but it was still good to get the team together for the debrief.

 

“You’ve reached Mr. Pierce’s secretary.” A chipper female voice said. Claire cocked an eyebrow and muttered, “the secretary has a secretary? What?”

 

“Hello, Ms. Everson, this is Agent Paul Carter of the Second Generation Avengers Initiative.” Paul said. It was just like him to remember the secretary’s name. “I’m here to debrief Mr. Pierce on the situation in Asgard.”

 

“Mr. Pierce is busy at the moment.” She said. Paul’s lips formed a thin line. Ms. Everson continued. “I can take your message and deliver it to Mr. Pierce when he is available, if you’d like.”

 

“I’d much rather talk directly to Mr. Pierce.” Paul said, still sounding polite. “My team and I are ready to return to Midgard--Earth--so perhaps you could inform Mr. Pierce that we’ll be arriving in fifteen minutes. This debrief  _ is  _ quite pertinent, Ms. Everson.”

 

“Agent Carter, while I appreciate that you want to do your job properly, I must advise you to  _ not  _ return home at this moment.” Well,  _ someone  _ sounded uneasy. And pissed that Paul was being so insistent.

 

Paul took his phone in his hand. “Ms. Everson, I am a level eight SHIELD agent. If my agency is being threatened, I need to know the details.”

 

“I cannot tell you anything. Except that if you return home now, you will be defying a direct order from Secretary Pierce and will have to face the most extreme consequences for your actions.”

 

“Ma’am, my grandmother is Peggy Carter. I grew up with the stories of Captain Steve Rogers. Defying direct orders is almost in my blood.  I’ll see you in ten.” Paul hung up as soon as he had finished speaking. He stood, shakily, and began walking towards the rainbow path.

 

I got up and followed him. “If you’re wrong about this, we’re screwed.”

 

“If I’m right, then the rest of the world is screwed as well.” Paul shot back. Something in him had changed. Gone was the nice Paul we had gotten used to, replaced instead with a man who had nothing to lose and a point to prove. 

 

If Pierce really was involved in the leak at SHIELD, then I could see why he would’ve wanted Paul out of the way. A determined Paul was terrifying. 

 

The other four were on our heels as we strode down the rainbow path. Paul was limping, on hand on the freshly stitched blade wound in his side, the other on his weapon. I let him lead, keeping myself a half-step behind him out of respect. This was Paul’s mission.

 

It took us longer than the expected ten minutes to get to Heimdall, and by the time we all got there, he was waiting for us. This couldn’t be a surprise to him, could it?

 

“Heimdall, we need to get back down to earth.” Paul gasped out. “Immediately.”

 

“Paul Carter, I cannot allow you and your team passage back to the Triskelion.” Heimdall answered, his deep voice vibrating across the room. Beside me, Paul went rigid. “Why not? Do you not think we can handle whatever awaits us?”

 

“I do not disregard your abilities.” Heimdall said. “But considering the situation in Midgard, I would suggest that you remain here while you recover.”

 

“No.” Paul growled. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Heimdall. Heimdall actually looked taken aback. Apparently not even the All-Seer had seen that one coming. “No. I’m bloody tired of my team being kept out of missions because of some bullshit executive decision. You let us down there, or I find a way to kill you and I open the damn portal myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please leave a kudo or something if you liked it!


	15. Claire Barton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone makes bad decisions and shit gets blown up. Welcome to the Avengers!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeee new chapter! Also, college is kicking my ass.

Okay, if your brand new boyfriend decided that pointing a loaded weapon at an all-powerful being was a good idea, it would probably make you reconsider all your life choices. Or at least it made me want to, and I’ve made a lot of dumb life choices.

 

Like, a  _ lot _ . 

 

But there wasn’t really anything for me, or the other Spawn, to do. I mean, when the nice guy cracks, you follow along because getting shot is never a good thing. 

 

“Let us go, Heimdall.” Paul stepped forward. He looked pretty damn serious about this whole killing thing. Part of me wanted to step in and do the diplomacy thing, but the other part of me knew that diplomacy was not my strong suit. It was Paul’s. Generally.

 

Heimdall nodded. “If that is what you wish. I will deposit you six where you came from, but I warn you: be ready.”

 

“Ready?” Meredith’s voice shook. “For what?”

 

“Whatever it is, you’ll probably be wanting one of these.” Noel handed Meredith a handgun. Meredith didn’t look too keen about having the weapon, and I couldn’t blame her. If Clint had been chased down by crazy guys with guns while we were growing up, I’d have a dislike for them as well.

 

The six of us stood in a circle, with our backs to the center. I drew a bloody arrow and placed it against my bow. “Ready.”

 

“Ready.” The others chorused around me. A small smile formed on my face before we were whooshed back down to earth. This was it; this was our defining Avenger Spawn moment. The epic moment where we all grouped ourselves together and looked badass and--

 

“Holy mother fuck there’s a helicarrier falling out of the sky!” Lucas screamed as soon as the Triskelion comes into view. And sure enough, there was. And it was breaking into pieces as it fell down towards us.

 

“Move!” Lucas screamed at us, and shot into the air. I grabbed Paul and threw the both of us away from the carnage. Meredith skidded past us, her eyes on Lucas as his form climbed closer to the falling wreckage.

 

Thalia screamed out, “Lucas, no!” as he blasted at the wreckage. There was an explosion, and I covered Paul, keeping both our heads down.

 

“I’m okay.” Lucas’s voice crackled over the comms. “I’m fine. We should just, you know, plan our landings a bit better for next time. Kinda don’t want to do that again. Kinda dangerous.”

 

“Where’s Agent Coulson?” Paul asked. He pushed me off of him, sitting up to search the area for Noel. I couldn’t see her either. Worried, I put a finger to my comms. “Noel? Agent Coulson? You still alive?”

 

“Yeah, but we have a prob--” Noel started, but her voice was cut off. I jerked forward. “Noel?!”

 

“She couldn’t have gone far.” Meredith reasoned. She looked around, taking in the burning wreckage surrounding all of us. “I say we head into the Triskelion. Noel had clearance. She probably went in there to figure out what the hell is going on.”

 

“Good plan.” Paul nodded. His eyes flicked over to the building. “But how are we going to get in there without being noticed?”

 

“We aren’t.” I said. I stood up, and pulled Paul up with me. “Whoever’s doing this, they need to know who they’ve pissed off. If we don’t show our faces now, they’ll never know. And they’ll never know who to fear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudo if you enjoyed, thanks!


	16. Noel Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is revealed.

I ran to the Triskelion as soon as we landed, not caring that I was probably leaving the team behind. I trusted them to stay alive, but I needed closure. I needed to know why Pierce was indisposed, and the only way to do that was to crash his office.

 

And his office was in the epicentre of this whole fiasco.

 

I bolted up the stairs (the elevator was out of order, for some reason), ignoring the cramp in my side. I didn’t have time for pain. Just answers.

 

I ran faster. I was getting closer, I could feel it, but my path was blocked. A swarm of SHIELD agents took the stairs, firing down at me. I’m pretty sure I’ve never back-tracked faster in my life. 

 

There was no point in shooting back. It would just waste my bullets, and it would probably end in me getting killed. There were too many of them, and even though I wanted answers, I knew they weren’t the ones to ask.

 

Slamming through the thirteenth floor door, I nearly ran into Claire and Paul. They drew their weapons at the same that I drew mine.

 

Claire relaxed first. “Noel, hey, where’ve you been?”

 

“Trying to get answers. You?”

 

“Trying not to die.” Claire shrugged, like near-death experiences were normal for her. Maybe they were; I didn’t know what she and Clint did when they were sent out into the field. Hell, I didn’t even know what they were doing on Clint’s forced vacation time after the battle of New York.

 

Thalia stepped forward. “You want me to take one of these guys out and start asking questions, or are you three still against torturing?”

 

“Only once we know that they’re against SHIELD.” Paul said. “I don’t need another incident on your hands, Agent Lokison.”

 

I pursed my lips.  _ Against SHIELD _ , I thought.  _ But the guys chasing me in the stairwell were SHIELD agents. I recognised some of them.  _ I put my gun down. “What if SHIELD  _ is  _ the bad guy?”

 

Paul looked like his worst nightmare had come true. “Oh, no. No.”

 

“What?” Claire whipped her head back and forth between the two of us. I shrugged. It could be that the leak was bigger than Paul or I had originally considered, and  _ that  _ was what was getting to Paul, or it could be something else entirely.

 

Paul swallowed. “A year ago, Pierce approached me, asked if I wanted some extra training. I said yes, because there wasn’t really another option at the time, and I was assigned to Agent Rumlow. Things were fine at first, but about two months in, Rumlow took me out to a classified area, and…”

 

He closed his eyes. “He asked me to kill another SHIELD agent. I told him I wouldn’t, that they were on the same side as us, and he said I was wrong. He said SHIELD was the problem, and that he, and Pierce and some others… they were the solution.”

 

“Jesus Christ.” Thalia hissed. “You’re saying that you knew about this leak a year ago and decided not to say anything?”

 

Paul glared. “I was scared, alright? They weren’t even supposed to  _ exist _ !”

 

“Pause,” Lucas piped up. He and Meredith had, at some point, started listening into the conversation. “Who are  _ they _ , exactly, and why aren’t you dead, Paul?”

 

“ _ They _ are Hydra, and I don’t know how I’m still alive.” Paul said. He took a deep breath. “I guess Pierce just didn’t see me as that big of a threat a year ago. Guess he knew I’d be too afraid to tell anyone what was really going on.”

 

“Well.” Claire’s face hardened. “Let’s go chop off some heads, and save SHIELD.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, please leave a kudo or something if you enjoyed!


	17. Thalia Lokison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case people were unaware, I don't really exist on this account anymore. I did finish this fic, though, so I'm going to post the last few chapters in case anyone wanted to read them. I probably won't respond to any comments, though, since I don't really come on here any more.

“Well, let’s go chop off some heads, and save SHIELD.” Claire said. The rest of the Spawn nodded in agreement. Paul turned to Noel. “I’m not in the best shape, so you’re in charge. Where to, my captain?”

 

“Hilarious.” Noel said, with an eyeroll. Well, good for her, learning some sass. She strode off with her gun in her hand, and the rest of us filed in behind her.

 

It felt really weird to be helping the very people who had tried to take me in and experiment on me only a few months before, but what other option did I have? SHIELD was the home of most of these people, after all. Much as I disliked it, SHIELD was also a part of my home.

 

We jogged down a corridor, completely alone. It seemed too quiet for a battlefield. Something was off.

 

“Get down!” Noel shouted, and the six of us dived away, towards a door. Seconds later, a smoke bomb went off and we were enshrouded in smoke. Someone coughed. Someone else got smacked. “ _Shush_!”

 

“ _Who threw that?_ ” Lucas whispered. I rolled my eyes and whispered back, “ _probably Hydra, you dumbass_.”

 

“ _No, I know that, I meant who in Hydra!_ ” Lucas hissed.

 

“ _Guys, seriously, shut the hell up._ ” Claire said. “ _I’m trying to listen._ ”

 

I sighed, and immediately regretted it because there was smoke in my lungs now and that sucked. I looked up, squinting through the smoke, and thought I saw a figure approaching. It was alone. I poked Claire in the side. “Do you see that?”

 

“Yeah.” Claire’s voice shook. “And I’m really hoping it’s not who I think it is.”

 

“I thought he was a ghost.” Paul said, because he and Claire had apparently developed the ability to read each other’s minds.

 

“I don’t care if he’s a ghost or not,” Noel said. “If we don’t take him out now, we’ll all become ghosts, and not the fun kind.”

 

And then she took her shot. As soon as she pulled the trigger, the figure was in midair, leaping over the bullet as it whizzed past. It fell back down gracefully, and flipped it’s head up. It stood, and strode forward.

 

“It’s armed.” Meredith said.

 

“I know.” Claire’s voice was higher than usual. “Guys, if this really is you-know-who, then I want to preemptively apologise. He and my brother do not have the best backstory with each other.”

 

“Your brother has a bad backstory with everyone.” Lucas said. He was right, to some extent. Clint Barton wasn’t in the friend-making business, after all. It would be odd for him and this random Hydra agent to have a friendly past.

 

The figure pointed it’s gun at us. “Hail Hydra.”

 

I stood up, because I was an idiot. “No. You want to fight us? Fine. But at least be strong enough to do it without any smoke to cover who you are.”

 

“Yes.” The figure said, and flipped a switch to it’s right. The fans came to life and the smoke began to clear. I found myself staring down at a woman no older than Noel. Her curly red hair was wild around her face, and she had no expression. A flat line of a human being.

 

I blinked. “You’re Hydra, then?”

 

“I am the Phoenix Protocol. The Second Generation Avengers are my mission.” She said, sounding like a robot, and pointed the gun at my head. “The Second Generation Avengers must die if my handlers are to succeed in their mission. I will not fail my mission.”


	18. Meredith Banner

There shouldn’t have been any time to react, but somehow I found it. I lunged forward and shoved Thalia down, and Noel started firing at the woman calling herself the Phoenix Protocol. Whatever that was.

 

Thalia glared at me. “What the hell was that for?”

 

“I just saved your life!” I replied, and then pulled out my own gun. I didn’t want to use this thing. It didn’t feel right in my hands. Weapons never did. I was a scientist; I created life instead of destroying it.

 

But Noel, Paul, Lucas, and Claire were struggling to keep up with the Phoenix Protocol, and I wasn’t about to let them die. So I shot.

 

I hit the Protocol’s shoulder. She didn’t even react. She just slammed her elbow into Claire’s nose and kicked Noel in the stomach.

 

Lucas shot at her and she leapt up onto the ceiling. She hit the tiles and pushed herself back down on top of Lucas, wrapping her legs around his torso and punching him in the face. Everything she did seemed so automatic. It was mildly terrifying.

 

Thalia shot off a blast of fire. The Protocol shifted herself and Lucas around so that Lucas was the one hit by the blast. Luckily, he was hit from the back, so his armour took most of the hit.

 

“Dammit.” Thalia hissed, and shot off some more fire. Once again, she was blocked. The Phoenix Protocol was using Lucas as a shield.

 

Lucas pushed his helmet down and then slammed his head against the Phoenix Protocol. She kicked off of his chest and flipped backwards onto the ground. As she flew through the air, Paul managed to land a shot on her leg. She stumbled a bit as she fell, and that gave us all a moment to reconvene.

 

Noel, Paul and I held our guns at the ready. Claire pulled out a pair of knives and spun them around her fingers. Lucas held up his hands, blasters at the ready.

 

And Thalia… the Asgardian rolled her eyes. “Fuck this. I never was good at group projects anyway.”

 

With a snap, she shimmered away. Noel was about to mouth off when Thalia reappeared right behind the Phoenix Protocol. She put a finger to her lips and then stabbed the Phoenix Protocol in the back with her scepter.

 

She pulled the weapon out and the Phoenix Protocol fell to the floor. Thalia glanced down at the dead Hydra agent and then up at us. There was a smirk on her face. “Oh, by the way: I can teleport.”

 

“Thank you, Agent Lokison.” Paul said, and I almost thought he was being sarcastic. Paul was never sarcastic, not even towards the people he didn’t like.

 

Claire leaned forward, towards where the Protocol was splayed out on the floor. “Are we sure she’s dead?”

 

“Want me to stab her again?” Thalia raised an eyebrow, and her scepter.

 

Noel shook her head vigorously. She’d gone a bit pale, I noticed. Probably because the way Thalia had taken out the Phoenix Protocol was the same way that Loki had killed Noel’s father two years ago in the battle of New York. Something like that would unsettle any of us.

 

I put my hand on Noel’s shoulder, as a way of grounding her. “It’s okay, Noel.”

 

“I _know_.” Noel grated out, and moved away from me. She kept her hardened grey eyes on Thalia and the fallen Phoenix Protocol. She nodded to Thalia. “Just check her pulse.”

 

“Got it.” Thalia knelt down beside the Protocol and reached out with two fingers. She pressed them to the Hydra agent’s neck and sat there for a few seconds. Thalia pulled her hand back and gave us an affirmative nod. “She’s dead. _Now_ can we go save SHIELD?”

 

Suddenly, the dead agent’s hand swiped out and grabbed Thalia’s ankle. As the Protocol rose up in a solid movement, Thalia’s feet were twisted out from under her and she was disarmed. The Phoenix Protocol stood with her foot on Thalia’s chest and Thalia’s scepter on the Asgardian’s throat.

 

“Oh shit.” Lucas muttered. Same, Lucas. Same.


	19. Claire Barton

“Oh shit.” Lucas muttered.

 

The Protocol stared at us with no emotion in her eyes. She was pretty freaking terrifying. Even though Thalia had just proved that the Protocol couldn’t die, I still strung an arrow onto my bow. Best to be prepared to fight to the death at all times.

 

The Protocol pressed the scepter against Thalia’s neck. Beside me, I heard Lucas’s suit whirring to life.

 

He shot off, ramming into the Protocol and slamming them both up against the wall. He punched her in the face with his metal arm, again and again and again. The protocol tried her best to slash Lucas’s suit open with the scepter, but he was too wild. Lucas wasn’t trained to fight properly, so he was just swinging his right arm wildly, pounding the Protocol’s face repeatedly.

 

Eventually, though, her head lolled back and she went limp in Lucas’s death grip. Lucas sank back down with her, hovering a few inches above the concrete floor. He let go of the Protocol, and she fell down to the floor gracelessly. He stared down at her body. “Oh my God I just killed someone.”

 

“Um, yeah.” Thalia said from the floor. She propped herself up on her elbows. “Thanks, by the way, for saving my life.”

 

“We should probably do something about her…” Meredith said, her voice shaking slightly as she pointed towards the crumpled mess that was the Phoenix Protocol. Paul nodded and stepped forward. His gun was still pointed at the Protocol’s head, and Noel and I flanked him with our own weapons.

 

If she attacked, we’d strike her back down. She was too dangerous to keep around for a long time. Our best option was to get her to a secure location and call in the higher-ranked officials to deal with her.

 

Paul lowered one hand and grabbed a pair of handcuffs. “We need to take her somewhere far away from this mess.”

 

“Whoa, what?” I said. “Paul, you’ve seen what she can do! If we try to take her in, she’ll kill us all. She’s dangerous!”

 

“She’s also valuable to Hydra, and they’ll want to reprogram her after this.” Paul said as he slipped the handcuffs onto the Protocol’s wrists. “I’m not going to let them. And besides, we still need to figure out what’s happening. Taking a Hydra agent hostage and questioning them would be a good way to do it.”

 

“Alright.” Noel said, and tossed Paul a second pair of handcuffs, which he fastened around the Phoenix Protocol’s ankles. Together, the two of them lifted her up off the ground. Her head lolled. Paul looked at me. "Think you can get us a vehicle, Agent Barton?"

 

"Yeah, and I have an idea of where to go." I said.

 

"Your brother?" Paul asked. I nodded. Clint and I had a lot of safe houses across the world, but I knew which one he preferred. The farmhouse out in northern Ohio. That's where he'd most likely be if he wasn't fighting Hydra at the Triskelion. We could stop there, and see what he knew.

 

"Are we sure he's not Hydra?" Lucas asked. When I looked over at him, he raised his hands above his head defensively. "Hey, it's a legitimate question!"

 

"No, you're right to be suspicious, but I'm pretty sure he's not Hydra." I said. I hoped Clint wasn't Hydra. That would suck. "Now let's get the hell out of here before any more Hydra goons try to take us down."


	20. Noel Coulson

Claire drove. Paul was shotgun. The rest of us sat in the back of the van, surrounding the Phoenix Protocol, who was alive again. The whole revival thing was really freaking me out. I had never seen anything like it before, and I was wondering how long Hydra had had that kind of technology on hand.

 

She wasn't saying anything to us. She just stared straight ahead, her clear blue eyes deadened. I could tell that Hydra had been messing with her mind. Hawkeye had looked like that while he's been under Loki's control.

 

"Agent Barton, should we call your brother and let him know that we're on our way to his farm?" Paul asked. Claire nodded. "You know his number, right?"

 

"I should." Paul said, and dug his phone out of his pocket. When he saw that it had been shot, he let out an audible sigh and turned around in his seat. "Agent Coulson, do you mind calling Hawkeye number one for me? My phone isn't working at the moment."

 

"I got you." I said. I pulled out my own phone, which was surprisingly still in one piece, and dialed Barton's number. He was in my contacts under Hawkeye One.

 

"Barton." He answered, which was a good sign. Fury had put him on leave until further notice so as to keep him away from any bad press involving the Battle of New York. I didn't even know if he still had his work phone number.

 

"Hey, this is Agent Coulson." I said. I looked at the Phoenix Protocol. She wasn't looking at me but I knew she was listening. "There's been a leak at SHIELD... it turns out that Hydra never really died out, and that they've been using SHIELD to regrow their forces for the past seventy years."

 

"Figures." Barton muttered. "Why're you calling me? You know I'm out of commission."

 

"We got one of their assets, a woman who calls herself the Phoenix Protocol, and we're bringing her to one of your safe houses." I said. I was still watching the Protocol to see if she reacted at all to what I was saying. Nothing. She was good. "The farmhouse. Claire thought you might be hiding out there, we just wanted to give you a heads up before we crashed the place with a trained assassin."

 

"You said she called herself the Phoenix Protocol?"

 

"Yeah?" I asked, feeling something was wrong. I wasn't psychic or anything, but I had agent's instincts. I could tell when something was amiss on a mission. "Is there something I should know?"

 

"She's dangerous." Clint said. "Trained by the same people who made Natasha."

 

"Of course she is." I grumbled. Of course we'd managed to pick up one of the more dangerous Hydra agents. And a Red Room graduate at that. Which meant that the Protocol could be anyone she wanted. Which meant that the stone silent girl in front of me could just be a cover for someone else.

 

"Bring her in anyway." Clint said. "I got Tasha to talk, I can probably help you guys with your Phoenix Protocol."

 

"Thanks, Clint. We'll let you know when we cross the border to your state." I said, and ended the call.


	21. Meredith Banner

Clint's safe house was a farm in Ohio. It was large, and secluded, and looked like something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel. (I’d read a few of them in my lifetime, but they weren’t that great.) Clint himself was standing outside in the front porch, watching us drive up in our stolen van.

 

Claire stopped the car and turned around in her seat. "Noel, Thalia, grab the Protocol and get her out. Take her straight to my brother; he'll tell you what to do with her once we're in the house."

 

Noel nodded, and she and Thalia rose. The Phoenix Protocol also stood. That was weird. Why was she being so compliant all of a sudden? Something was up, and everyone seemed to know it. The tension in the air was nearly edible as Noel and Thalia grabbed the Protocol by her arms and led her out of the back of the van. Lucas and I got out as soon as they were clear, and we followed them up to the house. I shook my head. "This is just too weird."

 

"I know." Lucas said, his voice wavering. "I mean, how do we even know who's okay and who's not? What if all of our friends are actually Hydra?"

 

"I doubt that everyone is Hydra, Lucas."

 

"You don't know that." He rebuked me. "They could be. My parents could be. Claire and Paul and everyone else could be."

 

"Lucas." I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around so that we were facing each other. "No one here is Hydra. Trust me. And, you can't live your life thinking that everyone is out to kill you. All it'll do is make you stressed and isolated. And you don't want that. I know, I've been there. I used to be scared of everyone who passed me and my dad whenever we went to the market. I always thought that they were SHIELD agents coming to get him and lock him away because he was too dangerous. I always thought that everyone was out to hurt my dad, and it nearly killed me. You can't live a paranoid life, Lucas, not even if you're an agent and in a dangerous business. You need friends. You need trust."

 

"I know." He said. "I'm just scared that I'm going to trust the wrong people."

 

"You'll be fine." I said, and gave him what I hoped would be a reassuring smile. I didn't know if he would be fine, or if he'd choose the wrong friends and end up dead. No one could know that, but Lucas was just a kid. He shouldn't have to deal with that much heavy stuff so soon.

 

The two of us and Paul walked into the house, Paul walking slowly behind us. I'd almost forgotten that, just yesterday, we'd been fighting off an alien race while doing a check up on Asgard's state. It had been less than twenty four hours since Paul had been shot and stabbed and the king of Asgard had died.

 

Too much was happening all at once. I wanted to faint, or maybe throw up from shock and exhaustion, but I couldn't. Paul needed medical assistance, and pronto.

 

"Lucas, take Paul somewhere where he can lie down. I'm gonna go find Clint and see what I can do about getting some medical supplies." I said. Lucas nodded, but Paul protested.

 

"I'm fine, Miss Banner." He said, even though it was clear that he wasn't. He looked like he was going to fall over and pass out any second. He gripped onto the wall. "We can deal with my injuries once we've gotten information from the Protocol. She is the priority right now."

 

"Okay, yes, but in case you didn't know, we have three other agents and one Thalia working on her right now." I said, a little bit beyond annoyed. "I think you'll be fine sitting this one out."

 

"Miss Banner..."

 

"Don't argue with me!" I shouted. Paul stepped back and nearly fell over. I closed my eyes. I felt like crying. "Please, Paul. You're a good guy. Don't kill yourself over this."

 

"Alright." He sighed in defeat, and let Lucas lead him off into one of the back bedrooms. Once I was satisfied that Paul was settled and no one was going to have a mental breakdown, I went to go find the others.

 

Thalia, Noel, and Claire were standing outside of a small room. I had a feeling that Clint and the Phoenix Protocol were on the other side of the door.

 

"Where are Paul and Lucas?" Claire asked as I walked up.

 

"Paul's lying down and Lucas is with him." I said. "Can you get Clint? I don't know where his first aid is, and Paul is going to need a lot of it."

 

"I'll get him." Claire said, and opened the door. Inside, the Phoenix Protocol was chained down to a table, and Clint was on the other side, speaking to her in a different language. Russian, probably, though I couldn't be sure.

 

Claire knocked on the door and both occupants turned towards her. "Clint, trade out and let someone else have a go. Agent Carter needs your help."

 

"Alright." He turned back to the Phoenix Protocol and said something else in Russian. She gave no response.

 

"I'll take over." Thalia volunteered. Noel raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You don't have any experience with interrogation techniques, Thalia."

 

"Yeah, well, I've got a lot of experience with being on the other side of the table, so I think I'll be able to figure it all out on my own." Thalia said. Noel sighed. "Alright, just call out if you want my help."

 

"Thanks." Thalia said, and went into the small room as Clint left it. I led him and Claire back to where Lucas and Paul were situated. Paul was sitting on the bed and looking very annoyed by the fact that he wasn't allowed to do anything. Lucas was seated on the edge of the bed, his fingers twitching nervously.

 

Claire and I made eye contact and both came to the same conclusion. Claire turned to Lucas and gave him a soft smile. "Come with me. We can go call Tony and Pepper and let them know that you're not dead, alright?"

 

"Yeah. Sure." Lucas said. He got up and followed Claire out of the room. I was left with Clint and Paul. Clint focused in on Paul. "You look like shit, man."

 

"I don't feel much better, if I'm to be honest with you." Paul said, and I could hear the light chuckle from Clint. "Welcome to the life, Carter."


	22. Thalia Lokison

I hadn't expected Noel to go through with my idea, so when I sat down across from the Phoenix Protocol, I didn't have any kind of plan in mind. Noel was right; I had no experience with interrogation. I'd been lying when I said I would know what to do once I got in there; the only thing on my mind was _holy shit balls this woman is terrifying._ That kind of information wasn't going to be helpful in my interrogation of her.

 

So I decided to do something that no one else has done to me. I introduced myself. "My name is Thalia Lokison. Don't know if you already know that, but hey, best to clear things up."

 

She didn't say anything. She just stared at me, which was really fucking unnerving, actually. I was kind of scared of this girl, especially since the only person who could help me if this interview went to shit was Noel. Yeah, she'd been acting different since we got back from Asgard, but that didn't mean we were friends. We had too much bad blood between us to be friends.

 

I pushed my hair out of my face. "Do you have a name, or was Hydra too busy taking over the world to give you one of those?"

 

"I am the Phoenix Protocol." She said. Her voice still had a Russian accent to it. Her eyes were a pale blue and they were locked on mine. She didn't look afraid of anything. I tapped my fingers against the table. "Alright. So. I'm going to call you Phoenix. Do you have a last name?"

 

"No." She said. Finally, something that wasn't just "I am the Phoenix Protocol" on repeat.

 

"Do you know who your parents are?" I had a feeling that when Noel and Barton had wanted to interrogate her, this wasn't what they had been thinking about. They probably meant more information on the deep dark secrets in Hydra, and less ice breakers with a scary Russian assassin. Whatever. I wasn't a professional anyway.

 

"I am the genetic combination of Natalia Alianovna Romanova and Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes." Phoenix said. She blinked. "Hydra created me as the beginning of a new project."

 

"Well, that's helpful." I said, thinking to myself that Barton wouldn't be excited about that. Finding out that Romanoff had had a kid with some other guy when she was supposedly infertile (according to Claire and Meredith) would definitely piss him off.

 

I leaned forward. "So, your name's gonna be Phoenix Barnes Romanova now, alright?"

 

She nodded, but I saw a hint of confusion, like she couldn't understand why I bothered to name her properly. I wasn't sure why I had done it myself, aside from the fact that calling her the Phoenix Protocol was just annoying. I tapped my fingers against the table, biting down on my bottom lip. “So, can I tell you something?”

 

Phoenix blinked at me.

 

“Okay.” I slapped my hands on the table and then drew them back. “I’ll take that as a yes from you. So, my secret is that my dad tried to kill the Avengers once, and when they stopped him, they put me away in a jail cell. No one was coming for me, because no one really knew who I was.”

 

“If you are drawing comparisons between our lives to try and make me feel as though I have support, I suggest you stop.” She said.

 

I leaned back. “I wasn’t. I was just letting you know that you’re not the only one on this farm who has some fucked up morals, so if you want to break the rules, just let me know.”

 

“I don’t want to work with SHIELD.” She sneered. An actual sneer. Something besides her cold, indifferent facial expressions. Considering that I had literally no idea what I was doing, I considered that a success. She raised her chin, never once breaking eye contact. “I don’t want to work for HYDRA either. They were never very good handlers. They lost my mother, after all.”

 

“So, HYDRA raised the Black Widow, then?” I asked. I had thought that Romanoff had come from the Red Room, but hey. Whatever. It wasn’t as though I needed to do a history report on her or anything. I was just supposed to know some basic information about the main players in SHIELD, so as to not do anything too dumb because I didn’t know any better.

 

“HYDRA helped, when the Red Room was compromised.” Phoenix said. She blinked. “Take me somewhere away from SHIELD and HYDRA both if you want to know anything else. I know how to keep my mouth shut. I chose to tell you these things. I wanted your interest.”

 

“Well, you got it, and I was never much of a farm girl anyway.” I said. I got up and used my magic powers to release the restraints holding Phoenix to the table. She stood up, a few inches shorter than me, and looked up at me. I extended my hand. “Ready to go?”

 

“Yes.” She took my hand, and I teleported us the hell out of there. I would bring her back eventually, but she was right: we needed some space to get the real work done. Everyone else was too busy with their own shit to deal with Phoenix properly. They all cared about the future of SHIELD. I didn’t.

 

I cared about the future of myself, and that future looked a lot brighter if Phoenix Barnes Romanova trusted me.


	23. Claire Barton

Whoever thought that leaving Thalia alone in a room with the Phoenix Protocol was a complete idiot. That person turned out to be Noel. So, apparently Noel was now an idiot. I didn’t think that she would remain an idiot for long, but she was still blaming herself for the whole incident, even after we had all gotten back into the van and sped off to where Thalia’s signal was going off.

 

I didn’t know why Thalia was signaling us in. If she wanted to leave SHIELD behind, why didn’t she just disappear with the Protocol and leave no trace? This was too weird.

 

It was probably a trap.

 

But, I was a Barton, and that meant that I did stupid, reckless things like walking into what was most definitely a trap. Clint came along with us, of course, because even he seemed to recognise that we needed a little adult supervision. Not that Clint was that great of an adult, but he was better than nothing. Besides, Paul was still mostly out of commission, what with his injuries still in the process of healing and all.

 

Noel, of course, was out of the question. After seeing her, Clint and I had discussed the situation (in ALS, of course, because we both knew it and we didn’t want anyone to listen in) and had come to the conclusion that she needed a break. Not physically. Physically, Noel was in peak condition. But her mental health looked like a pound of finely ground beef. As in, not exactly whole.

 

So that left me, Meredith, and Lucas as the stable teammates. And while I would like to think that we were pretty stable in most regards, we were still kids, and very inexperienced. I was only a Level Four, Meredith was still in the Academy, and Lucas was twelve.

 

Clint was in charge by default at that point.

 

We drove for three and a half hours before we finally found Thalia and the Phoenix Protocol. They were camped out in an actual campsite, with a tent and a fire going and everything. Neither one looked remotely afraid when the van pulled up beside their tent and Clint and I got out first. Thalia actually sat up straight and smiled at us. "Hey, birdies. What took you so long?"

 

"You took an enemy agent without permission." Clint said, deadpan. Thalia shrugged. "So did you, and that turned out pretty well in the end."

 

"I wasn't still on SHIELD's bad list when I did that. You're a liability." Clint wasn’t having any of Thalia’s shit, which I understood completely. Thalia wasn’t a horrible person, but she was definitely an asshole. She was the kind that you didn’t want to fight against, because she didn’t know when to just give up and accept that maybe she wasn’t right about everything. She had been like that in New York, too, even after the Avengers had cornered her father and Loki had surrendered to them.

 

Look, her stubbornness was great when we were in a life or death situation and Thalia was the one being tortured for information. This was not that situation.

 

The Phoenix protocol stood up from the log that she had been sitting on. Her face was half illuminated in flames, and no one could blame me for tightening my grip on my bow. Her eyes looked like glass shards with the light from the fire dancing across them. She was glaring straight at Clint. “Thalia is not a liability. She trusts you and your friends, and she wants me to trust them as well.”

 

“Do you?” It was Paul who asked that. Paul, sweet, brave, beautiful Paul. _Claire get your mind out of your heart, you goober._ Paul was leaning heavily on Meredith. “Do you trust us?”

 

“I trust Thalia.” The Protocol looked down at Thalia, and Thalia flashed her a smile. An actual smile. Not a smirk or one of those psycho “I’m going to kill you now” smiles that Thalia usually gave us. It made me wonder what the crap had happened between the two of them before we had shown up.

 

The Protocol looked back to Clint. “And Thalia trusts you, for now. So, yes, Hawkeye, I _do_ trust you.”

 

“She told me something that you people might want to know, since it kind of involves the survival of your precious planet.” Thalia said, back to her usual snarky self. It was relieving, actually, because I wasn’t sure how to deal with a softer Thalia. I was used to the snark.

 

Thalia glanced over her shoulder at the Phoenix Protocol, and she softened again. That was freaking weird. What was going on between the two of them? _Was_ anything going on between the two of them, or had Thalia just found a kindred spirit in the Protocol? I should probably stop calling her that; she's a real person, and we are probably going to be working with her if Thalia has a day in anything.

 

"Hydra is after the six infinity stones, because they believe that they can create an infinity gauntlet that will allow them to control the universe at will." The Phoenix Protocol said. "The object known as the tessaract is one of these stones, as is the æther that infected Dr. Jane Foster a few months ago. Hydra knows the location of two of the other stones, and I know the location of a third one. Hydra wanted me to tell them the location of the fifth stone, but I refrained from doing so because I didn't believe my source to be credible."

 

"Who's your source, and why should we believe you?" Noel asked. Well, looked like someone was back on the field. The field of what? I didn't know. Probably the field of awesome badass or something.

 

Thalia stared at the fire, and it started to move under her command. Okay, that's cool. Slightly terrifying and probably good to remember for later, but cool.

 

We all watched the fire as it turned into a woman. She had violet hair and she looked like she was from Asgard. She was holding the tessaract. Thalia nodded to the figure. "This is Kari Eriksson. She's the wife of my father, Loki, and she's the source of the infinity gauntlet's power. According to Phoenix, she was with a group of mercenaries who call themselves the guardians of the galaxy, and they were after the purple infinity stone."

 

"Kari said that they placed the stone on a planet that hosts the international police agency. She said that the stone was safe there but I doubt that it will be forever." Phoenix said. Thalia let the fire return to normal. Phoenix looked at Clint. "What happens when a priceless artifact is placed in a high security area?"

 

I knew that answer, but I let Clint respond. "It gets stolen by the most desperate man."

 

"And who is the most desperate man right now?" Phoenix asked, her icey blue eyes flicking over all of us. I didn't have a particular name, but I knew that Hydra--whoever was left of them--would be grasping for control over their falling empire. SHIELD still had the Avengers. I didn't know who Hydra had under their belt. Phoenix nodded to Thalia again, and the fire turned to a man with a scowl and scruff. Behind me, Paul swore. "Fucking hell. That's Rumlow."

 

"You would be correct, Agent Carter." Phoenix nodded. "Brock Rumlow survived the attack on the Triskelion and is currently in a burn unit in Washington. But just because he is incapacitated now doesn't mean that he will stay that way. He has friends: Agent Grant Ward, for example, who was working with a SHIELD team specialising in intergalactic affairs. Ward reported into Hydra HQ twelve hours ago to say that he was no longer under cover and that and Agent Hand was dead. I suspect that who ever is in charge of Hydra right now will be using Ward's experience with alien life to help with their search for the other stones. We need to get that stone before Ward, and before Hydra."

 

"And what do we do with it once we have it?" Meredith asked. She crossed her arms over her chest. "We can't go to SHIELD with it. They don't have enough security right now, and we don't know when they will."

 

Phoenix stared at her, deadly as ever. "We aren't taking the stone to SHIELD. We're going to destroy it."


	24. Noel Coulson

We were trusting an assassin with our lives. We were also sneaking into a space station so that Lucas could steal a spaceship. Because we needed a way to get to space, and apparently going back to Asgard was out of the question.

 

Thalia had been the one to ban Asgard from our options, and Phoenix had confirmed that Asgard was not allowed. It seemed suspicious, but this wasn't my mission to be in charge of. Again, we were trusting an assassin with our lives.

 

Paul and Clint were meeting up with whatever was left of the special forces team that Ward had been a part of before he turned out to be Hydra. Paul was going because of his knowledge of Rumlow and Hydra's selection process, and Clint was going because he "needed to be there," according to Phoenix. Claire would be standing by with a car to pick Paul up so that he could join us on our race into space to destroy an infinity stone.

 

Stealing a spaceship was surprisingly easy. Modifying it so that Lucas and I could control it was not as easy. I was just glad that I had been taking engineering classes from some of the SHIELD techs before this. At least I knew what Lucas was saying to me. The others didn't really follow.

 

Six hours later, and the SS Avenger Spawn was ready for takeoff. Meredith--the ship’s doctor and resident biologist--made the call for Claire to get her boyfriend as Thalia, Phoenix, and I helped Lucas maneuver the ship out to the runway. The ship was a combination of a rocket and an airplane, which basically meant that we were going to look like we came off of the Star Wars set still in costume. But it was better than one of NASA's glorified satellites that would have been nearly impossible to get past the solar system in a month.

 

There was a loud honking as Claire drove straight up to the ship and skidded the car to a halt. She and Paul got out, and Claire ran around to the trunk. She pulled out a bag and a sewing kit and held the items in the air. "If we're gonna look like real space people, we're gonna need better suits."

 

"Good thinking." Phoenix said. "How sturdy is the material?"

 

"Hopefully sturdy enough." Paul said as he took the bags from Claire and motioned for her to get on the ship first. She did, and then took the bags so that he could get on. Paul looked over his shoulder as he boarded. "Apparently Meredith is quite the designer. She'll be making the suits, just let her know what you want."

 

"Nice." Thalia said. She got on after me, and Phoenix got on last, slamming the hatch shut and walking up to the cockpit. She tapped Meredith on the shoulder. "We are all here. Let the copilot through, perhaps?"

 

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Meredith got up and I took her seat. Lucas was in the other seat, his headphones already on and flicking the appropriate switches. He looked back and out the window to where the car was still parked. "Was anyone too attached to that car? Because if it doesn't move, it's gonna get toasted."

 

"We're good." Claire said. "I got everything important out of there."

 

"Alright." Lucas said, and pulled the lever that started the engine. There was a maniacal grin on his face and I understood how he and Thalia were siblings. He turned to me quickly and asked, "So, Captain Coulson, are we ready for take-off?"

 

I nodded and put my headphones on. I pulled the microphone to my mouth, buckled myself in, and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the SS Avenger Spawn, please get to your seats and prepare for takeoff. Operation Infinitus is underway."


End file.
